Spring is here!

Another dry week here in the far reaches of Norfolk. Although the wind has been blustery and the nights cold things are moving forward at last.
The green house is now full of plants.

It has been a long week of shifting compost from the oldest "heap" to the veg garden and rotovating it. Yesterday we put in a row of broad bean plants, cabbages, sprouts and broccoli plants and sowed some parsnip seeds.  Today (when Grand Prix finally finishes) the task is to get a row of early potatoes in.

Friday night's Gardeners World "tips for the week" said to take off the greenhouse bubble wrap insulation. That same night we had a slight frost - so we will ignore that advice for a week or so here!

I will try to take a photo of the poly tunnel today. It is all prepared and my husband has been upgrading the water system in the hopes of cutting the time taken irrigating this summer.

On the odd wet half day we have had I have escaped to the sewing cabin to quilt - up and down. I tried some fancy design in the middle but it was too big, being a double bed size, to handle so I went for straight(ish) rows.

The walking foot worked well once I had invested in proper quilting thread (40 count). This was expensive in the local shop and puts the overall cost of the quilt up to £30. Main problem was the small opening between needle and machine side and I can see why serious quilters go for the specialist machines.  It was great spending time relaxing with Radio 4 for company - I listened to information on inheritance tax changes, a walk round central London tracing the history of tea importation, a walk in Northumberland with Claire Balding, obituaries of great people who have died recently like Maya Angelou and Colin Dexter, couple of good plays and some episodes from books.  I really must revisit Great Expectations!
 
I was just working up to a "big shop" and planning a new Spring menu when my husband put his head round the door and asked me not to spend more than £50 before the end of the week as he had transferred spare monies into the savings account but had forgotten to allow for a bill.  Savings? Starving here!  Never mind treats and fresh menus it was back to the basics.  I managed to harvest some things from the garden to supplement things most days.